Effectiveness of a Stand-Alone, Smartphone-Based Virtual Reality Exposure App to Reduce Fear of Heights in Real-Life: A Randomized Trial
Open accessAbstract
Smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) applications (apps) might help to counter low utilization rates of available treatments for fear of heights. Demonstration of effectiveness in real-life situations of such apps is crucial, but lacking so far. Objective of this study was to develop a stand-alone, smartphone-based VR exposure app-Easy Heights-and to test its effectiveness in a real-life situation. We performed a single-blind, parallel group, randomized controlled trial. We recruited 70 participants with fear of heights, aged 18-60 years. Primary outcome was performance in a real-life Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT) on a lookout tower after a single 1-h app use (phase 1) and after additional repeated (6 × 30 min) app use at home (phase 2). After phase 2, but not phase 1, participants in the Easy Heights condition showed significantly higher BAT scores compared to participants in the control condition (Cohen's d = 1.3, p = 0.0001). Repeated use of our stand-alone, smartphone-based VR exposure app reduces avoidance behavior and fear, providing a low-threshold treatment for fear of heights.
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Currently, freely available dedicated VRET applications for acrophobia or claustrophobia treatment are either not scientifically validated or developed for clinical use, or share a technological bias of being delivered through a smartphone-powered interface, such as the Easy Heights application.
“Currently, freely available dedicated VRET applications for acrophobia or claustrophobia treatment are either not scientifically validated or developed for clinical use [37,44], or share a technological bias of being delivered through a smartphone-powered interface, such as the Easy Heights application [45].”
From SAFEvR MentalVeRse.app: Development of a Free Immersive Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Acrophobia and Claustrophobia (2024) · cites this paper as [45]
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- Authors
- Bentz, D., Wang, N., Ibach, M. K., Schicktanz, N. S., Zimmer, A., Papassotiropoulos, A., & de Quervain, D. J. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Basel (CH)
- ORCID
- Venue
- npj Digital Medicine
- Published
- 2021-02-08
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 16-16
- ISSN
- 2398-6352 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7870885
- OpenAlex
- W3126186173
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 5.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- npj Digital Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- edoc (University of Basel)
- Funders
- Universität Basel
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- fear of heights, acrophobia, virtual reality exposure therapy, behavioral avoidance, avoidance behavior, low-threshold treatment
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